The Miraculous Draught of Fishes

Object Details

Title:

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes

Artist/Maker(s):

Joachim Beuckelaer (Netherlandish, about 1534 - about 1574)

Culture:

Netherlandish

Date:

1563

Medium:

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

110.5 x 210.8 cm (43 1/2 x 83 in.)

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At the left, Saint Peter and other disciples of Christ pull their teeming nets of fish aboard a boat. After an unsuccessful night of fishing on the Sea of Tiberius, the tired and hungry disciples had seen a man standing on the shore and followed his advice to cast their nets over the boat's right side. Their miraculous catch inspired Peter to recognize Christ, appearing after his death and Resurrection; in the middle scene, Peter enters the water to meet him. On the right, Christ and the disciples share a meal around a fire. The foreground depicts peasants hauling in baskets of fish to take to the market, forming a contemporary parallel to the biblical scene.

Joachim Beuckelaer specialized in combining genre subjects with religious scenes. In The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, he contrasted the spiritual world of the Bible with the materialism of the contemporary world.

Provenance
by 1821 - 1832

Godfrey Bosville Macdonald, third baron Macdonald of Slate, 1775 - 1832 (Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, Humberside, England), by inheritance to Alexander William Robert Bosville Macdonald, 1832.

1832 - 1847

Sir Alexander William Robert Bosville Macdonald, de jure twelfth Bart., 1800 - 1847 (Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, Humberside, England), by inheritance to Godfrey Wentworth Bayard Bosville, 1847.

1847 - 1865

Sir Godfrey Wentworth Bayard Bosville, de jure thirteenth Bart., 1826 - 1865 (Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, Humberside, England), by inheritance to Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville Macdonald of the Isles, 1865.

1865 - 1933

Sir Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville Macdonald of the Isles, fourteenth Bart., 1865 - 1933 (Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, Humberside, England), by inheritance to Godfrey Middleton Bosville Macdonald of the Isles, 1933.

1933 - 1951

Sir Godfrey Middleton Bosville Macdonald of the Isles, fifteenth Bart., 1887 - 1951 (Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, Humberside, England), by inheritance to Alexander Somerled Angus Bosville Macdonald of Sleat, 1951.

1951 - 1958

Sir Alexander Somerled Angus Bosville Macdonald of Sleat, sixteenth Bart., 1917 - 1958 (Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, Humberside, England), by inheritance to Ian Godfrey Bosville Macdonald of Sleat, 1958.

1958 - 1971

Sir Ian Godfrey Bosville Macdonald of Sleat, seventeenth Bart., born 1947 (Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, Humberside, England) [consigned and withdrawn, Agnew's, 1971], consigned to Herner-Wengraf Ltd., 1971.

1971

Herner-Wengraf Ltd. (London, England), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1971.

Exhibitions
Masterpieces from Yorkshire Houses (June 1951)
  • City Art Gallery (York), June to June, 1951, (Cat. 3)
Flemish Art 1300 - 1700 (December 5, 1953 to March 6, 1954)
  • Royal Academy of Arts (London), December 5, 1953 to March 6, 1954, (Cat. 357)
Old Masters - Recent Acquisitions (November 2 to December 10, 1971)
  • Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., (London), November 2 to December 10, 1971, (Cat. 33)
The J. Paul Getty Collection (June 29 to September 3, 1972)
  • The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, (Minneapolis), June 29 to September 3, 1972, (Cat. 18)
Making a Renaissance Painting (December 5, 2000 to August 19, 2001)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, (Los Angeles), December 5, 2000 to August 19, 2001, (Cat.)
Bibliography

The J. Paul Getty Collection, exh. cat. (Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1972), unpaginated, no. 18, ill.

Fredericksen, Burton B., ed. The J. Paul Getty Museum: Greek and Roman Antiquities, Western European Paintings, French Decorative Arts of the Eighteenth Century (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1975), pp. 70, 107, ill.

Fredericksen, Burton B., et al. Guidebook: The J. Paul Getty Museum. 3rd ed. (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1976), p. 57.

Fredericksen, Burton B., et al. The J. Paul Getty Museum Guidebook. 5th ed. (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1980), p. 61.

Jaffé, David. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 10, ill.

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